England are hell-bent on signing off another Six Nations campaign by beating Ireland with wing Mark Cueto admitting: "We owe it to ourselves."
Andy Robinson’s reign as England head coach will show just a 50 per cent success rate from 16 Tests in charge if the world champions come unstuck against a Triple Crown-chasing Irish side.
Cueto continues to accentuate the positives as England look to bounce back from their humiliating 31-6 loss against France in Paris last Sunday.
"There is so much talent in this squad, the lads don’t deserve to go out and play the way we did," said British & Irish Lion Cueto.
"It is down to us, but the amount of potential and ability in the squad is unbelievable.
"We owe it to ourselves, individually and collectively, and we owe it to the management to go out there and perform."
Robinson reacted to the French defeat by changing half his team and not since Mike Green decided on eight changes following a 33-6 loss to Scotland in 1986 has an England boss made such a sweeping statement.
Cueto accepts there can be no excuses.
He added: "Mistakes at this level are going to cost you points but we also got into good positions during the game and lost the ball, which meant we weren’t scoring points. It was disappointing.
"We just haven’t performed. If you play well, you score tries, and if you score tries, you play well, and we’ve had two bad defeats (against Scotland and France) during the past few weeks."
Ireland will show little sympathy for England’s plight this weekend.
"It is a massive test for us," Cueto said. "Ireland are a strong, well-balanced side.
"They’ve got a big pack which can provide the platform for the likes of Ronan O’Gara to kick to the corners and relieve and exert pressure, while Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy and Shane Horgan give them balance out wide.
"We are under no illusions about how difficult it is going to be. There are no easy games at this level, and whether it is by one point on Saturday, we will take a win."
